Printing machines with shifting roller platen

ABSTRACT

Imprinting of forms with fixed and variable data from printing elements comprising two distinct groups of characters. A bed retains the printing elements and the form, and a roller platen moves from a home position in a first path across the form to an actuated position and back to home position in a second path across the form to perform a printing cycle. The roller platen is shiftable between the first and the second path such that as the platen is moved in the first path it is operative to imprint a single line only of one group of characters, and as it is moved in the opposite direction in the second path it is operative to imprint a single line only of the other group of characters, to thereby compensate for imprinting pressure as a result of rolling line contact of the platen with only a single line of characters without the platen reaching any adjacent line of characters.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Jack G. Nantz Euclid, Ohio 21 Appl.No. 847,178 221 Filed Aug. 4, 1969 45 Patented May 11, 1971 [73]Assignee Addrnssograph-Multigraph Corporation Cleveland, Ohio 541PRINTING MACHINES wmI SHIFI'ING ROLLER I PLATEN 7 Claims, 4 DrawingFigs.

[52] US. Cl 101/269, 101/56,101/252 [51] 1nt.Cl B411 3/04 [50]Fieldofsearch 101/56, 252, 256, 257, 260, 264, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273,274

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 323,024 7/1885, Davis101/272 1,179,489 4/1916 Wright 10l/273X 1,305,778 6/1919 Cushing et al.101/269 3,272,120 9/1966 Johnson 101/56 3,481,269 12/1969 Brown 10l/56Primary ExaminerRobert E. Pulfrey Assistant Examiner-C. CoughenourAtIomeysRussell L. Root, Ray S. Pyle and Wilmer H. Nau' ABSTRACT:Imprinting of fonns with fixed and variable data from printing elementscomprising two distinct groups of characters. A bed retains the printingelements and the form, and a roller platen moves from a home position ina first path across the form to an actuated position and back to homeposition in a second path across the town to perform a printing cycle.The roller platen is shiftable between the first and the second pathsuch that as the platen is moved in the first path it is operative toimprint a single line only of one group of characters, and as it ismoved in the opposite direction in the second path it is operative toimprint a single line only of the other group of characters, to therebycompensate for imprinting pressure as a result of rolling line contactof the platen with only a single line of characters without the platenreaching any adjacent line of characters.

Patented May 11, 1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Z r 1 W W/W K] Patented May 11,1971 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN UR r L A7 TURNELY PRINTING MACHINES WITHSI-IIFI'ING ROLLER PLATEN BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The presentinvention relates to a printing machine and relates more particularly toa recorder for imprinting a restricted group of characters which are ofcritical importance in the quality of their imprinting, in closeproximity to another group of characters which are of a less-criticalnature. The less critical data, for example, may include the name andaddress of a customer and his account number. The critical group ofcharacters is exemplified by a machine scannableportion of thetransaction.

Advantageously, the account number on the credit card and the numeralson the variable amount print. wheels may be stylized characters of thekind used for optical character recognition (OCR) machine reading ormagnetic ink character recognition (MICR) machine reading. In this way,the forms imprinted on the data recorder can be processed accurately andrapidly with machine data processing equipment.

Although the use of scannable data ease greatly increased the speed andefficiently with which the imprinted documents can be processed, aconsiderable amount of difi'rculty has been encountered in theimprinting of the stylized characters on the forms. In this connection,because of the critical tolerances required by the sensing equipment toproperly read the scannable characters, it is necessary that thecharacters be positioned within a certain limited area on the form, thatthey be of uniform density to provide a strong signal when being sensed,and that they be free of ragged or jagged outlines which might causespurious signals resulting in erroneous reading operations. The presentinvention will be described in terms of OCR characters, but it will beunderstood that characters intended for MICR and other types of criticalreading characters are also comprehended.

Heretofore several improvements have been made to data recorders forimprinting forms and documents ,with machinescannable data. Theimprovements to the data recorders com prises such things ascompensating platens or anvils to obtain a uniform degree of printingpressure even though the thickness of the embossed card and/or the formmay vary from one application to another.

Still other devices include the use of dual roller platens which areindependently operative to imprint one group of characters with one ofthe platens when the platens are moved in a first direction across theform, and to imprint the other group of characters with the other platenwhen the platens are moved in the opposite direction across the form,asshown in US. Pat. No. 3,272,120, issued to Johnson, dated Sept. 13,1966. In particular one of the platens is lowered into printing relationwith a single line only of stylized embossed characters when the platensare moved in the first direction, and the platen is then raised and theother platen is lowered into printing relation with the other embosseddata during the retum movement of the platens to their start position,such that the printing pressure on the embossed characters in one lineis not 'influenced by any parallel lines of embossed characters tothereby provide uniformity of pressure thus applied to the fonn.

Although the foregoing improvements have met with a certain amount ofsuccess, it is an object of the present invention to further. advancecurrent practices of imaging form sets with characters having a highdegree of clarity and outline accuracy through the use of small datarecorders.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a data recorderfor imprinting form sets from a printing plate-having conventionalembossed characters thereon as well as embo$ed coded data, and fromsettable print wheels for imprintcomprising an axially shiftable rollerplaten arranged to imprint a form from a first group of printingelements and to roll therealong from end to end without reaching anyadjacent line of type in a second group of printing elements, andthereafter the platen is shifted axially to a position to imprint theform IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a printing machineconstructed in accordance with the present invention with the platencarriage handle removed to an exploded view position;

FIG. 2, on sheet 2, is a plan view with the handle removed showing thepositions of the printing elements; and'showing a platen-shiftingmechanism in its two extreme positions;

FIG. 3 is a section taken on line 3-3 of FIG. 2; and

FIG. 4 is a section, partially broken away, taken on the line 4-4 ofFIG. 3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The platen construction of thepresent invention provides a relatively simple arrangement which can beincorporated in various types of data recorders. For purposes of thisspecification, the novel arrangement is described as being incorporatedin a machine such as shown and described, for example, in US. Pat. No.3,405,634 issued to Maul et aL, dated Oct. 15, 1968. To the extent thatit assists in understanding the description of the invention to be setforth in detailhereinbelow, the disclosure in-the patent is'incorporatedherein.

The data recorder of the present invention is shown generally at 10 inFIG. 1, and is adapted to produce impres sions on a form from acreditcard or printing plate CR provided with embossed reading-typecharacters TC (see FIG. 2) and stylized embossed characters SC in theformof OCR characters. Since the data recorder of the present invention,with the exception of the platen roller mechanism, is substantially thesame as disclosed in the aforementioned US. Pat. No. 3,405,634, only abrief description of the machine will be given herein.

As shown in FIG. 1, the data recorder comprises a base B having mountedthereon an anvil or bed 12, a roller platen carriage indicated generallyat 14 adapted to be moved in a path across the bed I2 to effect animprinting operation, and 'a keyboard including keyset levers indicatedgenerally at 16 for manually positioning variable data print wheelsindicated generally at 18.

With reference to FIG. 2, the bed 12 of the data recorder may also beprovided with adater 20 and an auxiliary plate 22. Plate 22 may be forsuch purposes as station identification. The dater and/or the stationplate may also be provided with stylized characters such as OCRcharacters. The embossed credit card CR is positioned face up on thesurface ofthebed I2 and is retained by comer guides 24 and 26 and springgauges 32 and 33. A form F to be imprinted, is positioned on the bed 12and overlies the print wheels 18, dater 20, auxiliary plate 22 and thatportion of the credit card CR bearing embossed data. The form isproperly registered and held in place by surfaces 23 and 25 and comerguides 28 and 30.

The platen carriage I4 is similar to that disclosed in the above US.Pat. 3,405,634 and includes an inverted U-shaped frame. comprising a top40, a depending backplate 42 (see FIG. 4) and depending legs 44 and 46.The leg 44 is provided with a pair of rollers 48 and 50 (FIGS. 2 and3)and the leg 46 is provided with a single roller 52 (FIGS. 2 and 4) suchthat the rollers 48 and 50 are in rolling contact with the upper surfaceof the bed 12 at one longitudinal margin thereof, and the roller 52 isin rolling contact with the upper surface of the bed 12 at the otherlongitudinal margin thereof. The leg 44 is also provided with a roller54 mounted on an eccentric stud 34, and the leg 46 is provided with aroller 56 mounted on an eccentric stud 36, such that the roller 54 is inrolling contact with the lower surface of the bed 12 at the margin belowthe rollers 48 and 50, and the roller 56 is in rolling contact with thelower surface of the bed 12 at the margin below the roller 52. Thus, therollers 48, 50, 52, 54 and 56 support and guide the platen carriage I4in its movement from a home position across the bed to an actuatedposition and back to home position to perform a printing cycle. Theeccentric studs 34 and 36 permit adjustment of the rollers 54 and 56respectively in relation to the rollers 48, S and 52, to obtain properpositioning of the rollers against the bed for travel of the platencarriage 14 through a printing cycle with smooth, accurately guidedmotion free of detrimental play.

The novel arrangement of the present invention pertains to a rollerplaten mechanism which will roll in one path in a first direction, andshift to roll in a laterally spaced path on return in the oppositedirection. As best shown in FIG. 3, a roller platen P is rotatably andslidably mounted on a shaft 60 supported in vertically elongate openings62 and 64 provided in the legs 44 and 46 respectively of the platencarriage 14. The shaft is held against endwise displacement by a coveror handle 65 (FIG. 1). Handle 65 is mounted on the platen carriage andis adapted to be grasped by the operated for moving the carriage througha printing cycle. A pair of springs 66 and 68 are provided for urgingthe shaft 60 upwardly in the elongate openings 62 and 64, and a pair ofadjusting screws 70 and 72 acting on the shaft and against the bias ofthe springs afford vertical adjustment of the shaft to position theroller platen at a proper level above the bed 12 to obtain the requiredprinting pressure of the roller platen in relation to the printingelements and the forms to be imprinted.

As shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, the backplate 42 of the platen carriage 14is provided with an opening 43 to provided clearance for the rollerplaten when it is at the home position, or at the left end ofthe bed 12as viewed in FIGS. 1, 2 and 4. A platen-shifting means provides foraxially sliding the platen P on the shaft 60 from the full line positionat one end of the bed to the dotted line position at the opposite end,and back to the full line position, as shown in FIG. 2. The shiftingmeans comprises a yoke 76 mounted on the platen carriage l4 and bodilymovable therewith.

The yoke 76 includes a vertical post 78 for pivotally mounting the yokeon a pin 80 fixed in and depending from the top 40 of the platencarriage. The yoke is retained on the pin by a retaining member 82. Theyoke further includes a pair of armate arms 84 and 86 each in contactwith an end of the roller platen.

An overcenter U shaped spring 96 is provided to retain the roller platenin either of its two positions on the shaft 60 and includes a pair ofoutwardly formed ears 98 and 100 for mounting the spring. As shown inFIG. 2, the ear 98 is held in a recess provided in the post 78 of theyoke 76, and the ear 100 is held in a groove provided in a block 102fastened to the underside of the top 40 of the platen carriage.

OPERATION With reference to FIG. 2, wherein the printing elements and aform to be imprinted are positioned on the bed 12 and the platencarriage 14 is at the home position, the yoke 76 and the roller platen Pare in the full line positions held by the spring 96 urging the yoke ina clockwise direction. As the platen carriage is moved to the actuatedposition, from left to right, the spring continues to hold the yoke inthe full line position as the platen travels in a first path across thebed to imprint the form from the credit card CR and the print wheels 18.

As the platen carriage approaches the actuated position, a cam followeredge 94 of the yoke 76 strikes a cam 95 provided on the comer guide 26,causing the yoke to be rotated in a counterclockwise direction therebycausing the arm 84 of the yoke to act against the end of the rollerplaten and axially shift 'it to the dotted line position. Rotation ofthe yoke is arrested when a stop surface 89, provided on an upstandingrib 88 on the yoke, abuts the shaft 60, at which time the spring hasbeen snapped to overcenter position to effectively retain the rollerplaten in the dotted line position during return movement of the platencarriage from the actuated to the home position.

During the return movement of the carriage, the spring continues to holdthe yoke in the dotted line position as the roller platen travels in asecond path across the bed to imprint the form from the charactersprovided on the dater 20 and the station plate 22. As the carriageapproaches the home position, a cam follower edge 92 of the yoke 76strikes a cam 93 provided on the comer guide 24, causing the yoke to berotated in the opposite direction and causing the arm 86 of the yoke toact against the other end of the roller platen to axially shift it backto the position shown in full lines. Rotation of the yoke is arrestedwhen a stop surface 91, provided on an upstanding rib on the yoke, abutsthe shaft 60, at which time the spring has been snapped overcenter inthe opposite direction to retain the roller platen in the full lineposition in readiness for another printing operation.

High-quality impressions are obtained with the device of the presentinvention as a result of the use of a shiftable roller platen assemblyeffective to compensate for printing pressure, wherein the printing ofcharacters is accomplished by rolling the platen in a first path in onedirection over a group of printing elements, and then shifting theplaten to a second path and rolling it in the opposite direction overanother group of printing elements. In this way, the printing pressureon the characters of one group is not influenced by any adjacentembossed lines of characters of the other group. Accordingly, theuniformity of the impression made from the OCR characters, utilizing asingle roller platen movable through two separate printing paths, is ofa quality such that when the imprinted form is used as an input documentfor data processing equipment, the impression thereon has the clarityand sharpness to afford accurate interpretation by the data processingequipment.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the novelplaten-shifting arrangement of the present invention is effective toproduce extremely high quality impressions on carbon interleaved formsand, more particularly, impressions of OCR stylized characters.

I claim:

I. A data recorder comprising:

a bed for holding printing elements and a form to be imprinted;

a platen carriage movable across the bed from a home position to anactuated position and back to home position to perform a printing cycle;

a roller platen;

means for axially shifting and rotationally supporting the roller platenon the platen carriage for movement in a first direction path inprinting relation with the form, and in the opposite direction in asecond path axially spaced from the first path in printing relation withthe form; and

shifting means responsive to movement of the platen carriage throughsaid printing cycle for moving the roller platen between the first andthe second paths at the actuated position.

2. A data recorder as set forth in claim I in which the shifting meanscomprises a yoke pivotally mounted on the platen carriage and actuableto engage and axially move the roller platen; and

means adjacent each of the home and the actuated positions of the platencarriage for actuating the yoke.

3. A data recorder as set forth in claim 1 which further includesresilient means cooperable with the shifting means for holding theroller platen in either the first or the second path during a printingcycle 4. A method of making an impression on a form from two groups ofembossed printing elements which utilizes a platen carriage movable inopposite directions between a home and an actuated position and having aroller platen rotatably supported and axially shiftable thereon, rollingthe platen in a first path in printing relation to one group of printingelements when the platen carriage is moved in one direction, axiallyshifting the roller platen from the first path to a second path afterthe platen cam'age has passed said first group of printing elements, androlling the platen in the second path in printing relation to the othergroup of printing elements when the platen carriage is moved in theopposite direction.

5. A data recorder comprising:

a bed for holding printing elements and a form to imprinted;

a platen carriage movable across the bed in one direction to an actuatedposition and return in the opposite direction to a home position toperform a printing cycle;

a roller platen;

means for axially shifting and rotationally supporting the roller platenon the platen carriage with its axis extending transversely of thedirection of platen carriage motion for movement in a first path inprinting relation with one portion of the printing elements and theform, and in a second path axially spaced from the first path inprinting relation with another portion of the printing elements and theform;

shifting means for axially moving the roller platen to one or the otherof the first and the second paths; and

means adjacent the home and the actuated positions of the platencarriage for operating the shifting means, whereby the roller platen isin the first path during movement of the platen carriage in onedirection and in the second path during movement of the platen carriagein the other direction.

6. Agata recorder comprising:

a bed for holding printing elements and a form to be imprinted;

a platen carriage movable forwards across the bed from a home positionto an actuated position and back to home position to perform a printingcycle;

a roller platen;

means supporting the roller platen on the platen carriage for rotationabout an axis transverse to the direction of platen carriage movementand also for shifting along that axis;

shifting means responsive to movement of the platen carriage throughsaid printing cycle for moving the roller platen axially betweenmovements forward and back over the printing elements whereby in aprinting cycle the roller platen moves forward in a first path inprinting relation with the form, and back in a second path axiallyspaced from the first path in printing relation with the form.

7. A data recorder comprising:

a bed for holding printing elements and a form to be imprinted;

a platen carriage movable forwards across the bed from a home positionto an actuated position and back to home position to perform a printingcycle;

a roller platen;

means supporting the roller platen on the platen carriage for rotationabout an axis transverse to the direction of platen carriage movementand also for shifting along that axis;

means on the platen carriage for axially moving the roller platen;

means adjacent the home and the actuated positions of the platencarriage for operating the last-mentioned means, whereby in a printingcycle the roller platen moves forward in a first path in printingrelation with the form, and back in a second path axially spaced fromthe first path in printing relation with the form.

1. A data recorder comprising: a bed for holding printing elements and aform to be imprinted; a platen carriage movable across the bed from ahome position to an actuated position and back to home position toperform a printing cycle; a roller platen; means for axially shiftingand rotationally supporting the roller platen on the platen carriage formovement in a first direction path in printing relation with the form,and in the opposite direction in a second path axially spaced from thefirst path in printing relation with the form; and shifting meansresponsive to movement of the platen carriage through said printingcycle for moving the roller platen between the first and the secondpaths at the actuated position.
 2. A data recorder as set forth in claim1 in which the shifting means comprises a yoke pivotally mounted on theplaten carriage and actuable to engage and axially move the rollerplaten; and means adjacent each of the home and the actuated positionsof the platen carriage for actuating the yoke.
 3. A data recorder as setforth in claim 1 which further includes resilient means cooperable withthe shifting means for holding the roller platen in either the first orthe second path during a printing cycle.
 4. A method of making animpression on a form from two groups of embossed printing elements whichutilizes a platen carriage movable in opposite directions between a homeand an actuated position and having a roller platen rotatably supportedand axially shiftable thereon, rolling the platen in a first path inprinting relation to one group of printing elements when the platencarriage is moved in one direction, axially shifting the roller platenfrom the first path to a second path after the platen carriage haspassed said first group of printing elements, and rolling the platen inthe second path in printing relation to the other group of printingelements when the platen carriage is moved in the opposite direction. 5.A data recorder comprising: a bed for holding printing elements and aform to imprinted; a platen carriage movable across the bed in onedirection to an actuated position and return in the opposite directionto a home position to perform a printing cycle; a roller platen; meansfor axially shifting and rotationally supporting the roller platen onthe platen carriage with its axis extending transversely of thedirection of platen carriage motion for movement in a first path inprinting relation with one portion of the printing elements and theform, and in a second path axially spaced from the first path inprinting relation with another portion of the printing elements and theform; shifting means for axially moving the roller platen to one or theother of the first and the second paths; and means adjacent the home andthe actuated positions of the platen carriage for operating the shiftingmeans, whereby the roller platen is in the first path during movement ofthe platen carriage in one direction and in the second path duringmovement of the platen carriage in the other direction.
 6. A datarecorder comprising: a bed for holding printing elements and a form tobe imprinted; a platen carriage movable forwards across the bed from ahome position to an actuated position and back to home position toperform a printing cycle; a roller platen; means supPorting the rollerplaten on the platen carriage for rotation about an axis transverse tothe direction of platen carriage movement and also for shifting alongthat axis; shifting means responsive to movement of the platen carriagethrough said printing cycle for moving the roller platen axially betweenmovements forward and back over the printing elements whereby in aprinting cycle the roller platen moves forward in a first path inprinting relation with the form, and back in a second path axiallyspaced from the first path in printing relation with the form.
 7. A datarecorder comprising: a bed for holding printing elements and a form tobe imprinted; a platen carriage movable forwards across the bed from ahome position to an actuated position and back to home position toperform a printing cycle; a roller platen; means supporting the rollerplaten on the platen carriage for rotation about an axis transverse tothe direction of platen carriage movement and also for shifting alongthat axis; means on the platen carriage for axially moving the rollerplaten; means adjacent the home and the actuated positions of the platencarriage for operating the last-mentioned means, whereby in a printingcycle the roller platen moves forward in a first path in printingrelation with the form, and back in a second path axially spaced fromthe first path in printing relation with the form.